SK Hynix Hosts Handball Festival 'Happy Harmony'..."Disabled and Non-Disabled Play as One Team"

Group photo of players participating in the handball festival "Happy Harmony." (Photo by SK Hynix Newsroom)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] SK Hynix announced on the 22nd that it held the integrated handball sports festival "Happy Harmony," which breaks down the barriers between people with and without disabilities.

The event took place at the SK Hawks Arena in Cheongju, Chungbuk on the same day. The game was played between two teams composed of 14 players from the Happy Moa Challengers team made up of people with developmental disabilities, 4 players from Ilsin Girls' High School, and 2 players from the SK Hawks team. SK Hynix explained that this was the first time in Korea that people with and without disabilities formed one team to play a handball game.

This event was held to commemorate the launch of the "Disabled Handball League" aimed at expanding the base of developmental disability handball. SK Hynix explained that through the operation of the subsidiary-type standard workplace "Happy Moa" handball team and the developmental disability handball class run by SK Hawks, they confirmed that handball sports help improve social skills for people with developmental disabilities.

Based on these cases, SK Hynix began preparations to revitalize disabled handball. Last month, they recruited handball teams to participate in the "Disabled Handball League," completed the selection of a total of 10 teams this month, and also produced a developmental disability handball manual. They plan to expand to more than 15 developmental disability handball teams by 2023 and support participation in the Special Olympics.

The event was attended by Han Beom-deok, Mayor of Cheongju, Jang Rira, Vice President of the Korea Handball Federation, Son Seok-min, President of Seowon University, and Moon Yoo-jin, Vice President in charge of Cheongju Support at SK Hynix.

Vice President Moon said, "The Happy Harmony event is a precious occasion to support the 'Happy Moa Challengers,' who are taking on new challenges beyond disabilities, and to announce the launch of the developmental disability handball league," adding, "SK Hynix will continue to provide a foundation and unwavering support so that people with developmental disabilities can communicate with the world and grow through handball, and even dream of becoming national representatives in the future."

Meanwhile, prior to the event, Cheongju City, SK Hynix, and Seowon University signed a business agreement to promote social skills improvement and health enhancement through the participation of people with developmental disabilities in handball, as well as to revitalize and expand the base of developmental disability handball.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.